'May' in the Bible

Your hands made and formed me; give me understanding, that I may learn your commands.

May those who fear you see me and be glad, for I have hoped in your word.

May your gracious love comfort me in accordance with your promise to your servant.

May your mercies come to me that I may live, for your instruction is my delight.

May the arrogant become ashamed, because they have subverted me with deceit; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.

May those who fear you turn to me, along with those who know your decrees.

May my heart be blameless with respect to your statutes so that I may not become ashamed. Kaf

I keep away from every evil choice so that I may keep your word.

Leave me, you who practice evil, that I may observe the commands of my God.

Support me, that I may be saved, and I will carry out your statutes consistently.

Though I may be small and despised, I do not neglect your precepts.

I have called out to you, "Save me, so I may keep your decrees."

I look forward to the night watches, when I may meditate on what you have said.

May my cry arise before you, LORD; give me understanding according to your word.

May my lips utter praise, for you teach me your statutes.

May my tongue sing about your promise, for all of your commands are right.

May your hand stand ready to assist me, for I have chosen your precepts.

Pray for peace for Jerusalem: "May those who love you be at peace!

May peace be within your ramparts, and prosperity within your fortresses."

For the sake of my relatives and friends I will now say, "May there be peace within you."

May the LORD bless you from Zion, and may you observe the prosperity of Jerusalem every day that you live!

And may you see your children's children! Peace be on Israel! A Song of Ascents

May they become like a tuft of grass on a roof top, that withers before it takes root

And may those who pass by never tell them, "May the LORD's blessing be upon you. We bless you in the name of the LORD." A Song of Ascents

But with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be feared.

May your priests be clothed with righteousness and may your godly ones shout for joy.

May the LORD who fashions heaven and earth bless you from Zion.

If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.

May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you, if I don't consider Jerusalem to be more important than my highest joy.

May those who surround me discover that the trouble they talk about falls on their own head!

May burning coals fall on them; may they be cast into fire, and into miry pits, never to rise again.

Let not the slanderer become established in the land. May evil quickly hunt down the violent man.

May our sons in their youth be like full-grown plants, and our daughters like pillars destined to decorate a palace.

May our granaries be filled, storing produce in abundance; may our sheep bring forth thousands, even tens of thousands in our fields.

May our cattle grow heavy with young, with no damage or loss. May there be no cry of anguish in our streets!

May Israel rejoice in its Maker, and Zion's descendants in their King!

May they praise his name with dancing, chanting songs to him with tambourines and lyres.

May those he loves be exalted, singing for joy on their couches.

so you may carefully practice discretion and your lips preserve knowledge.

The life of a wealthy man may be held for ransom, but whoever is poor receives no threats.

The field of the poor may produce much food, but it can be swept away through injustice.

Even in laughter there may be heartache, and at the end of joy there may be grief.

The way of life leads upward for the wise so he may avoid Sheol below.

If you scourge a scoffer, the simple person may learn to be discreet; rebuke a discerning man and he will gain understanding.

The horse may be prepared for the day of battle, but to the LORD goes the victory.

or you may learn his ways and find yourself caught in a trap.

Through patience a ruler may be persuaded; a gentle word can break a bone.

The rich man may be wise in his own opinion; but a discerning, poor man sees through him.

Otherwise, they may drink and forget what has been ordained, perverting justice for all the oppressed.

The former can come out of prison to reign, while the latter, even if born to kingship, may become poor.

Don't listen to everything that is spoken you may hear your servant cursing you,

Whoever digs a pit may fall into it, and whoever breaks through a wall may suffer a snake bite.

Do not curse the king, even in your thoughts. Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom. For a bird will fly by and tell what you say, or something with wings may talk about it.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. May you journey from the top of Amana, from the tops of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountain lairs of leopards.

Where did your beloved go, most beautiful of women? Where did your beloved turn, so we may look for him with you?

Return, return, Shulammite, return, return, so we may look at you! Why should you look at the Shulammite, like you watch the dance of the two camps?

I told myself, "I'll go up the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit. May your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the smell of your breath like apples.

May your mouth be like good wine. May it go down smoothly to my beloved, gliding gently over the lips of the sleeping ones.

Many groups of people will come, commenting, "Come! Let's go up to the Temple of the God of Jacob, that they may teach us his ways. Then let's walk in his paths." "Instruction will proceed from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

who say: "Let God be quick, let him speed up his work so we may see it! Let it happen! let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near, so we may recognize it!'"

to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!

Open your gates, so the righteous nation that safeguards its faith may enter.

"Go now, and write it down on a tablet in their presence, inscribing it in a book, so that for times to come it may be an everlasting witness.

So now, LORD our God, save us from his oppressive hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."

Now Isaiah had said, "Let them prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover."

all so that people may see and recognize, perceive, consider, and comprehend at the same time, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

Let them approach and ask us, "What will happen? As to the former things, what were they? Tell us, so that we may consider them and know. Or the latter things or the things to come let us hear.

Tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods! Yes, do something good or something bad, so we may hear and gaze at it together.'"

"Listen, you deaf people, and look up, you blind people, so you may see!

"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and trust me and understand that I am the One. Before me no God was formed, nor will there be one after me.

the people whom I formed for myself and so that they may speak my praise."

Recount the brief! Let's argue the matter together; Present your case, so that you may be proved right.

so that from the sun's rising to the west people may know that there is none besides me. "I am the LORD, and there is no other."

"To whom will you compare me, count me equal, or liken me, so that I may be compared?

And they lift it on their shoulders, carry it, set it up in its place, and there it stands. It cannot move from that spot. One may even call to it, but it cannot answer nor save him from his distress.

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or have no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these mothers may forget; But as for me, I'll never forget you!

"The children who are grieving at present will yet say in your hearing, "This place is too crowded for me; make room for me, so I may have a place to live.'

"The Lord GOD has given me a learned tongue, so that I may know how to sustain the weary with words. And morning after morning he wakens, and he wakens my ear to listen like those who are being taught.

For the mountains may collapse and the hills may reel, but my gracious love will not depart from you, neither will my covenant of peace totter," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Watch! If anyone does attack you, it will not be from me; whoever may attack you will fall because of you.

Pay attention to me, come to me; and listen, so that you may live; then I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, as promised by my faithful, sure love for David.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.

so that you may nurse and be satisfied at her consoling breasts, and so that you may drink deeply and take delight from her glorious bosom."

Jerusalem, wash your evil from your heart so that you may be delivered. How long will you harbor evil schemes within you?

The prophets are nothing but wind, and the word is not in them. So may the disaster happen to them!'"

Who is the wise person who understands this, and to whom has the LORD spoken so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, ruined like the desert, without anyone passing through it?

At one moment I may speak about a nation or a kingdom to uproot it, pull it down, or destroy it.

At another moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to build it or plant it.

Therefore, make their children undergo famine, and deliver them over to death in time of war. May their women be childless widows! May their men be slaughtered! May their young men be slain by the sword in battle!

May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and a battle cry at noon,

The prophet Jeremiah said, "May the LORD truly do this thing! May the LORD fulfill the words that you prophesied to bring back the vessels of the LORD's Temple and all the exiles from Babylon to this place.

Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so they may have sons and daughters. Increase in numbers there, don't decrease.

What happens to them will be the basis for a curse for all the Judean exiles who are in Babylon. People will say, "May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the LORD roasted in the fire,

Then King Zedekiah told Jeremiah, "I'm afraid of the Judeans who have gone over to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans may turn me over to them, and they may treat me harshly."

Pray that the LORD your God may inform us as to how we should live and what we should do."

Then they told Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we don't do everything that the LORD your God tells us through you.

Whether it seems good or bad, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we send you, so it may go well for us. Indeed, we will obey the LORD our God."

This will be a sign to you,' declares the LORD, "that I'll punish you in this place so that you may know that my words concerning disaster against you will surely stand.'

May the violence done to me and my flesh be on Babylon," says the inhabitant of Zion. "May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea," says Jerusalem.

May it not befall you, all who pass along the road! Look and see: Is there any grief like my grief dealt out to me, by which the LORD afflicted me in the time of his fierce wrath?